New Beginning

[Craiga 01453]

Congrats man. And yes just give him some time to adjust to his new home. I leave them in the enclosure for a week without handling when I first bring them home. Then try and feed and allow two days after he eats and all should be well to start holding him a few times a week to keep them used to being held.

Actually, I strongly advise waiting longer for new keepers to start handling new snakes. It's very important to make sure the animal is eating well before handling. BPs are a very docile species and tolerate handling extremely well.

Getting them eating can be more of a challenge than acclimating to handling.

I highly recommend waiting until the snake has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal before starting to handle. New keepers simply don't have the experience to identify stress or if something is just "off".

Feeding should be priority number one. Handling is for us, not the snake. Their health should be more important than our desire to handle.

You've got 25+ years to handle the snake, so focus on health first. There's plenty of time for handling.